Tanaka Seisakusho[edit]

Tanaka Seisakusho (田中製作所, Tanaka Engineering Works) was the first company established
by Tanaka Hisashige, one of the most original and productive inventor-engineers during the
Tokugawa / Edo period. Established in July 1875, it was the first Japanese company to
manufacture telegraph equipment. It also manufactured switches, and miscellaneous electrical and
communications equipment. The company was inherited by Tanaka's adopted son, and later
became half of the present Toshiba company. Several people who worked at Tanaka Seisakusho or
who received Tanaka's guidance at a Kubusho (Ministry of Industries) factory later became pioneers
themselves. These included Miyoshi Shōichi who helped Fujioka make the first power generator in
Japan and to establish a company, Hakunetsusha to make bulbs; Oki Kibatarō, the founder of the
present Oki Denki (Oki Electric Industry); and Ishiguro Keizaburō, a co-founder of the
present Anritsu.[7]
After the demise of the founder in 1881 Tanaka Seisakusho became partly owned by General
Electric and expanded into the production of torpedoes and mines at the request of the Imperial
Japanese Navy, to become on the largest manufacturing companies of the time. However, as the
Navy started to use competitive bids and then build its own works, the demand decreased
substantially and the company started to lose money. The main creditor to the
company, Mitsui Bank, took over the insolvent company in 1893 and renamed it Shibaura
Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works).[7]

Shibaura Seisakusho[edit]
Shibaura Seisakusho (芝浦製作所, Shibaura Engineering Works) was the new name given to the
company Tanaka Seisakusho (Tanaka Engineering Works), after it was declared insolvent in 1893
and taken over by Mitsui Bank.
In 1910, it formed a tie-up with GE USA, which, in exchange for technology acquired about a quarter
of the shares of Shibaura. With this investment GE now had a stake in both Tokyo Denki and
Shibaura Seisakusho - two companies that had a complementary line of products in light as well as
heavy electrical equipment. Both companies were merged in 1939 to create Tokyo Shibaura Denki
(Tokyo Shibaura Electric Company, now Toshiba). The relation with GE continued until the
beginning of the war and, after the war, resumed in 1953 with GE's 24 percent shareholding. This
percentage has, however, decreased substantially since then.[7]

Hakunetsusha (Tokyo Denki)[edit]

Hakunetsusha (白熱舎) was a company established by Shōichi Miyoshi and Fujioka Ichisuke, two of
Japan's industrial pioneers during the Tokugawa / Edo period. It specialized in the manufacture of
light bulbs.
The company was established in 1890, and started out by selling bulbs using bamboo filaments.
However, following the opening up of trade with the West through the Unequal treaty, Hakunetsusha
met with fierce competition from imports. Its bulb cost about 60 per cent more than the imports and
the quality was poorer. The company managed to survive with the booms after the First Sino-
Japanese War of 1894–95 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, but afterward its financial
position was precarious.
In 1905 the company was renamed Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric) and entered into a financial and
technological collaboration with General Electric of USA. General Electric acquired 51 percent share
of ownership, sent a vice president, and provided the technology for bulb-making. Production
equipment was bought from GE and Tokyo Denki soon started selling its products with GE's
trademark.
In 1939, Tokyo Denki and Shibaura Seisakusho were merged to form Tokyo Shibaura Denki (Tokyo
Shibaura Electric Company, now Toshiba).

1939 to 2000[edit]
Toshiba was founded in 1939 by the merger of Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering
Works)[8] and Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric). Shibaura Seisakusho had been founded as Tanaka
Seisakusho by Tanaka Hisashige in July 1875 as Japan's first manufacturer
of telegraph equipment.[7] In 1904, it was renamed Shibaura Seisakusho. Through the first decades
of the 20th century, Shibaura Seisakusho had become a major manufacturer of heavy electrical
machinery as Japan modernized during the Meiji Era and became a world industrial power. Tokyo
Denki was founded as Hakunetsusha in 1890 and had been Japan's first producer of incandescent
electric lamps. It later diversified into the manufacture of other consumer products and in 1899 had
been renamed Tokyo Denki. The merger of Shibaura and Tokyo Denki created a new company
called Tokyo Shibaura Denki (Tokyo Shibaura Electric) (東京 芝浦 電気). It was soon nicknamed
Toshiba, but it was not until 1978 that the company was officially renamed Toshiba Corporation.

The Toshiba pavilion at Expo '85.

The group expanded rapidly, driven by a combination of organic growth and by acquisitions, buying
heavy engineering and primary industry firms in the 1940s and 1950s. Groups created
include Toshiba Music Industries/Toshiba EMI (1960), Toshiba International Corporation (1970s)
Toshiba Electrical Equipment (1974), Toshiba Chemical (1974), Toshiba Lighting and Technology
(1989), Toshiba America Information Systems (1989) and Toshiba Carrier Corporation (1999).
Toshiba is responsible for a number of Japanese firsts, including radar (1912), the TAC digital
computer (1954), transistor television and microwave oven (1959), color video phone (1971),
Japanese word processor (1978), MRI system (1982), laptop personal computer (1986), NAND
EEPROM (1991), DVD (1995), the Libretto sub-notebook personal computer (1996) and HD
DVD (2005).
In 1977, Toshiba acquired the Brazilian company Semp (Sociedade Eletromercantil Paulista),
subsequently forming Semp Toshiba through the combination of the two companies' South American
operations.

In 1950, Tokyo Shibaura Denki was renamed Toshiba. This logo was used from 1950-1969. It was also used
later on for hard drives .[9]
Toshiba logo used from 1969 to 1984.[10]

Toshiba logo, used since 1984.[10]

In 1987, Tocibai Machine, a subsidiary of Toshiba, was accused of illegally selling CNC milling
machines used to produce very quiet submarine propellers to the Soviet Union in violation of
the CoCom agreement, an international embargo on certain countries to COMECON countries.
The Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal involved a subsidiary of Toshiba and the Norwegian
company Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. The incident strained relations between the United
States and Japan, and resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two senior executives, as well as the
imposition of sanctions on the company by both countries.[11] Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania
said "What Toshiba and Kongsberg did was ransom the security of the United States for $517
million."